Another Life
by MsHologramRibs
Summary: Ginny Weasley is given Peter Pan as a present for Christmas. She instantly likes the book. Then Ginny has a dream about mermaids? Garden gnomes? Ghosts?


**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world and all Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling and strictly to J. K. Rowling.**

 **Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, round 6, for the Chudley Cannons.**

 **Genre: Supernatural**

 **Prompts Used:**

 **(5) "To die would be an awfully big adventure." – J. M. Barrie,** _ **Peter Pan**_ **(quote)**

 **(7) Reducio (spell)**

 **(9) history (word)**

 **Another Life**

Ginny Weasley didn't know what to think when Hermione Granger handed her a book for Christmas. The title read _Peter Pan_ and Ginny was confused. Was it about a pan named Peter? Ginny merely shrugged and took it upstairs to her bedroom along with her other gifts. Ginny was in her second year at Hogwarts and she was still recovering from the after effects of Tom Riddle's diary.

Ginny could hear the boys coming up the stairs and knew that Ron and Harry would want to be alone. So Ginny took the book Hermione gave her and decided to go reading in the garden. Ginny passed Harry and Ron on the way down the stairs; Ginny couldn't help but look at Harry. Ever since he had saved her from the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny felt like she owed Harry. She liked him, yeah, but that crush had been there since the moment she saw him. Ginny walked through the house noticing that Hermione was teaching her father, Arthur Weasley, how to use a CD player. Ginny smiled to herself and walked out of the house and into the garden.

Ginny sat on the grass and began reading her book. Soon enough Ginny was enraptured in the pirates and fairies the book had to offer. Ginny had never seen a fairy or a mermaid for that matter. Before Ginny could think more on the subject a garden gnome came into her vision. Ginny put down her book and watched as the garden gnome dragged a regular sized fishing rod across the lawn. Ginny followed the garden gnome, curious as to what it was going to do. A few more gnomes joined in and started to drag the fishing rod as well. Ginny frowned at the struggling gnomes. She took the fishing rod from them, ignoring their curses and grunts. Ginny walked into the house and asked her father to shrink the fishing rod.

"What for?" Arthur Weasley asked. Ginny became impatient.

"It's for something," Ginny said quickly. Arthur shrugged his shoulders.

"Reducio!" Arthur put his wand away and handed the shrunk down fishing rod to his daughter. Ginny ran outside and up to the group of gnomes who looked like they were planning an attack on the house. Ginny handed them the smaller fishing rod and watched as the gnomes examined it. The original garden gnome that had been dragging the fishing rod in the first place seemed to smile at Ginny. He then gestured for Ginny to follow them. Ginny picked up her book and followed the garden gnomes to a nearby river.

The river was quiet and the sun was shining through the trees. It was a rather beautiful place, Ginny thought. The garden gnome motioned for Ginny to sit and she did. She watched as the garden gnome began to fish. Ginny smiled brightly, she had never thought that garden gnomes did anything other than infest gardens. Ginny basked in the sunlight and listened to the quiet stream of the river when suddenly she felt her hand become icy cold like she had put her hand in ice water. Ginny sat up and looked at her hand only to see a garden gnome but not just any garden gnome. The garden gnome was see-through and seemed to float off the ground. Ginny was confused. Could garden gnomes become ghosts too?

The ghost garden gnome smiled sweetly at Ginny and then it began to speak.

"The gnomes are pleased that you made the fishing rod smaller. It's not every day a witch helps them out. Wizards and witches think they know everything about garden gnomes, well, they don't know the half of it. Anyways, they wanted me to tell you thank you," the ghost garden gnome said. Ginny blinked.

"Are you a ghost?" she asked hesitantly. The garden gnome smiled and nodded his head.

"Sure am. It must be odd, to see a ghost garden gnome, but I'm not the only one. See there," the garden gnome pointed towards the water where the garden gnome that was fishing was talking to a mermaid. Ginny blinked and realized that the mermaid was see-through as well. The ghost mermaid took one look at Ginny and motioned her over. Ginny stood and walked over to the edge of the river, bewildered. The mermaid smiled and took Ginny's hand. Ginny frowned at the coldness but then gasped as she was led into the water.  
Ginny knew how to swim. Her brothers had thrown her in a lake once and that's how she had learned to swim. Ginny managed to swim back up to get some air then she went back down. The mermaid smiled at Ginny and then began to speak.

"The garden gnomes said that you helped them. Is that true?" the mermaid asked. Ginny nodded and struggled to hold her breath. "There is something about you that is different. It is almost as if you've seen or experienced something dark. Something malevolent." The mermaid circled Ginny and then looked her straight in the eye. "You have power, I can see that. But dark things lie ahead. You must be strong. You must not be afraid." Ginny let her breath go as she spoke in the water.

"What is it like?" Ginny asked.

"Death?" the mermaid questioned and Ginny nodded. "It is another life. Another chance. There are things beyond this life and you will know them once it is your time to go." The mermaid smiled one last smile before she began to swim away. Ginny watched her see-through tail leave and then bubbles began to cloud her vision. Ginny gasped awake.

Ginny looked around her surroundings and realized that she was still in the garden back at the house. Her book was lying on her chest and a garden gnome walked by. It must have been a dream. Ginny smiled to herself and picked up her book. What an odd dream, she thought. She read the history of the book and she smiled. She wondered what J.M. Barrie would have said if he knew that mermaids were real and that magic was real. Ginny giggled. Maybe he did know. Ginny then thought of her dream. Were there such things as ghost mermaids and garden gnomes? Ginny wondered. The ghost mermaid's words resonated in her head and she giggled again.

"To die would be an awfully big adventure." Ginny closed her book and walked back to the house. She thought of her mother's brothers and wondered if they were having fun in the afterlife. She thought of everyone she knew who was dead and wondered if they too thought that death was but another life.

. . .

 **A/N: It's an odd story, I know. But I like it. – MsHologramRibs**


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